Elkano's BuffBars
EBB provides groups of (mainly) statusbar style indicators to show (de)buffs currently affecting your char or some other units (focus, pet and target). For the player, it can also show indicators for temporary enchants placed on their weapons.
For over 20 years, EBB has been a mainstay for both long-term and returning players (at least some) and reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated.
Two-in-One Download
For Classic WoW, the addon uses its older 2.x code base, for Mainline WoW (Retail and Forever) it is now based on Blizzard's AuraContainer; all in the same download file.
2.x based on UnitAura
Version 2.x was a total recode, initially based on the Ace2 framework, later ported to Ace3, which became necessary in order to support some of the longtime wanted and suggested features. It has served well for ~19 years (since June '07) and made it possible to show different groups of bars which can be configured in many ways. Each group can be assigned an individual look and filter settings. After setting up a group, its anchor can be hidden by alt-left clicking a bar or the anchor itself in order to lock the group in place.
Due to changes Blizzard made with WoW 4.x it's no longer possible to cancel buffs without the use of secure frames.
EBB v2 thus limits cancelling of buffs to out-of-fight since using SecureAuraHeader would have required a major code restructuring.
This will be coming in a later version.
3.x based on AuraContainer
This is once again a complete artisanal rewrite, which became necessary due to Blizzard making auras secret in combat. This also gave me the push to include some features I already wanted but never included before. And you can cancel buffs in combat again.
Layouts can now be shared between groups, support multi-line/-column alignments, and give you way more options than before. But it can also just look the same as it used to.
What did suffer from the change of underlying technology are some of the filter options, as Blizzard has intentionally broken those.
And I haven't added localization to v3, yet. So most texts are in English besides a few strings reused from the game client.
Settings
The settings can be accessed via chat (/ebb), LDB icon, or simply via the game settings.
Other Infos
In order to get additional bar textures and fonts for EBB simply install e.g. SharedMedia which is available for download under https://www.curseforge.com/wow/addons/sharedmedia
If you have bug reports or feature request, create a ticket: https://www.curseforge.com/wow/addons/elkbuffbars/issues
Comments
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Elkano Owner
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Posted Aug 31, 2026@Khelge already changed locally to at least use the old setting for Blizzard buffs as long as I'm reusing the EBB2 settings
but you can also just edit your v3/ElkBuffBars.lua and remove the call to DisableDefaultPlayerAuras()
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Posted Aug 20, 2026Hello. Thanks for the amazing work, this really is a fantastic addon. Does anyone happen to know how I could remove the TENCH column, as it's currently bugging out and showing incorrectly. Cheers.
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Posted Aug 31, 2026@wellhyper1 In case you are talking about the 12.1 alpha, it's currently reusing an existing EBB2 config, so you should be able to edit your saved variables outside of the game 🫣
However, before doing so, it would be great if you could tell me what you consider "bugging out and showing incorrectly", as that might indicate something broken I still need to fix.
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Posted Aug 14, 2026Downloaded the alpha but am I clumsy? I cannot see the configuration window I type /ebb no such command. I right click on the EBB icon on my broker bar and nothing comes up. No error message. How am I supposed to configure stuff? :D
Anyways I wanted to start using EBB becuase I really want to get rid of my static buffs And see some short combat buffs like less than 60 second long buffs only. Is this doable?
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Posted Aug 14, 2026@40PE Like I've written in the changelog, the first alpha will only work if you have pre-existing settings from before 12.1 as I haven't started on the settings windows, yet. 😅
So unless you want to "hack" yourself some temporary settings in you'll likely loose when updating, or set the addon up on a classic flavour and copy the saved variables over (as classic still uses the old code), you'll have to postpone your testing and adoption of EBB for a few weeks.
Having a group show only buffs with less than 60 seconds of maximum time (i.e. not remaining), will be possible.
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Posted Aug 14, 2026@Elkano Ohh I didn't see your big comment above prior posting sorry, Ok I'll wait patiently. This game is gargabe without addons now anyways. :S
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Posted Aug 12, 2026I have also been using Elkano's BuffBars for many years.
For more than two decades, I have felt somewhat helpless watching the default way the game displays Buffs and Debuffs remain almost completely unchanged. As the game has evolved through the years, more and more Buffs have become important to monitor, while an increasing number of Debuffs have become critical to pay attention to—especially in high-end raids.
But after I started using Elkano's BuffBars, all of that changed.
I could clearly see the final second of a Buff and use that information to squeeze out one last, perfectly timed ability. I could also immediately notice important Raid Debuffs on myself and react quickly enough to avoid boss mechanics.
Even today, I still haven't found another addon that can truly compare to Elkano's BuffBars as a bar-based timer.
Whether it is the way it presents information—which, perhaps, was simply too far ahead of its time—or the incredible precision of its timers, these are the reasons I have continued using it all these years. A timer bar provides visual feedback precise enough to let players judge even the final 0.1 seconds, something that ordinary Buff/Debuff icons simply cannot replace.
Even after Blizzard began restricting addon functionality to varying degrees starting with 11.0, I still never gave up on EBB.
Knowing that you are preparing to redevelop Elkano's BuffBars, there isn't much I can personally do to support you. The most I can offer is my support through words and language.
But I sincerely hope you can find some confidence and motivation in my message.
Because to me, Elkano's BuffBars has never been just another Buff addon.
It has become an irreplaceable part of my experience playing World of Warcraft for all these years.
So please, accept this gratitude from a long-time user with a clear conscience.
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Posted Aug 12, 2026The initial Alpha r223 should be downloadable from files or via client. 🎉
https://www.curseforge.com/wow/addons/elkbuffbars/files/8633538
As outline in the changelog and pinned post, while the core functionality is mostly complete, I only did a quick front wiring to reuse an existing EBB2 profile. You wont have any settings nor will it remember the position of frames you moved. But at least it shouldn't outright throw errors at you. 🫣
Besides some emergency patch in case it's needed (and I can squeeze it in somehow), there likely won't be much movement for at least the next 2 weeks. Glad I managed at least this state though.
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Posted Aug 11, 2026thanks for the info bud, love this addon and cannot play without it. thanks for all your hard work
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Posted Aug 10, 2026A quick statement on the current situation:
TL;DR:
A new version of EBB for 12.1 is on it's way, but it is not ready, yet. An initial alpha (with limited exposed functionality) should come soon™ though (likely days, at worst weeks).
It will contain both, the old code for classic and a rewrite for 12.1. I'll continue to iterate on that version in the following weeks and months.
UPDATE: r223 is out 🎉
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The latest beta release r221 should be working with all classic versions and "working" with 12.0, it will however no longer be functional once 12.1 hits.
And in contrast to the changes in 12.0, that were already devastating to a lot of features, 12.1 will require a full rewrite since the game pretty much stops to hand any information over to the addon, similar to how it already was with private auras.
I never put out a full 12.0 release due to multiple things not working as intended any more/yet and the settings not reflecting that, and with 12.1 on the horizon, it wasn't worth the effort to finalize the changes.
EBB has now been around for 20+ years and while I primarily developed it for my own use, it also makes me happy that others enjoy using it, some of you even for over a decade now as well.
But it seem that at least for retail WoW, EBB2 will have to come to an end with 12.1 🥲
I had already started a rewrite for EBB years ago (must have been around MoP iirc) to introduce some new features (e.g for positioning the bars, allowing to cancel buffs in combat again, ...).
But since EBB2 wasn't broken, I never turned my initial prototype into a full addon nor did I use it myself.
The situation is different now, and since I don't want EBB to end myself, I had to go back to the drawing board and start from scratch once more.
The new API has still received major changes over the past weeks (additional smaller ones are coming after 12.1.0), so I only started real coding work on another prototype a few weeks ago.
A large part of the core functionality is implemented by now and seems to be working, however there is neither a settings UI nor persistence, yet.
I'm trying to get an initial alpha working that will at least reuse the saved settings from EBB2, so while you wont be able to change them at first, it should at least feel similar on login. 🤞
However due to various personal events, my time has been (and for the next few weeks will be) limited, so I can't promise a quick full release.
Things that will (still) no longer work / not be included in EBB3:
- most of the filter (besides selfcast and maximum duration)
- tracking
- mixing buffs, debuffs, and temporary enchantments
- sorting by maximum duration
- overriding or abbreviating names, types, ...
Things that will be included (mostly already working, I just need to wire up the settings):
- other sorting methods the game provides
- other new filter methods the game provides
- more control over the bar layout (pretty much free placement of icon, bar and texts)
- multi-column layouts and horizontal layouts
- private auras
- cancel in combat (just took me ~16 years 🤪)
There's likely some other stuff I forgot for both lists (and some stuff I forgot to include back in due to not using it myself).
One more thing:
Thank you all for staying polite in the comments and looking out for each other (especially with my slightly ghosting you 😔). Seeing some other projects/games, that's not a given these days.
I am however still developing this mainly for myself and my own fun/journey in doing so. This also includes debugging and understanding problems.
As a result, before someone asks or offers, I'm currently neither looking for contributors nor do I intend to use AI to speed things up.
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Posted Aug 12, 2026@Elkano Probably been using this myself for 20ish years, glad you're still at it
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Posted Aug 12, 2026@Elkano People like you is what makes the community great and the game working decently enough; if it wasn't for blizzard fucking things up for no reason..
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Posted Aug 12, 2026@Elkano I’m excited to see you back and actively working on arguably the best buff/debuff addon that wow has ever seen. I know it's temporary but just the ability to move the buffs/debuffs as a whole during your alpha releases would be amazing. One anchor point to “Option Click” or “Shift Click” and drag like Decursive is an option but I’m not sure how dificult to code it in would be. More coffee for you soon !
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Posted Aug 26, 2026@Elkano I've been using it since day one, and very happy to read that it's staying alive. Thank you very much for your work Elkano!
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Posted Aug 9, 2026with Raven pretty much dead for era/anni, what are the chances of Elkano's BuffICONS instead of bars?
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Posted Aug 9, 2026it could even be a secret feature, just need to allow the timer text to be repositioned to the icon
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Posted Jul 31, 2026Hi Elkano,
With Blizzard rebuilding the aura system in 12.1, could this be the opportunity for ElkBuffBars to be reborn in its complete form?
The maintained version is already greatly appreciated, but many of us still hope to see the true ELK experience return in all its glory.
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Posted Jul 26, 2026the debuffs not working is a simple fix.
Open C:\Program Files (x86)\World of Warcraft\_anniversary_\Interface\AddOns\ElkBuffBars\EBB_Bar.lua in a text editor.
Paste in this code at line 467
if type(_G.DebuffTypeColor) ~= "table" then
local dtc = {
none = { r = 0.80, g = 0.00, b = 0.00 },
Magic = { r = 0.20, g = 0.60, b = 1.00 },
Curse = { r = 0.60, g = 0.00, b = 1.00 },
Disease = { r = 0.60, g = 0.40, b = 0.00 },
Poison = { r = 0.00, g = 0.60, b = 0.00 },
}
dtc[""] = dtc.none
_G.DebuffTypeColor = dtc
end
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Posted Jul 15, 2026I'm using your fix and so far it's working great and better then the official update on July 8 2026 I hope you keep updating it till ELkano fixes it all.
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Posted Jul 16, 2026@Toptek All that will change in 12.1. There will be many changes in Auras and i think they will do the addon much better. Next update will be from author :)